lection night in america as you decide 2012 and the first polls have just closed in virginia. one of the most important battleground states of the night. now we're watching the race for the white house and the fight for control of congress. tonight minute by minute results and live reports if our correspondents across the nation on fox america's election headquarters.

>> we've aired thousands of political ads, traveled tens of thousands of campaign miles and spent hundreds of millions of dollars and now election night is here. and by the time it's over, we should know who will lead our country for the next four years. tonight you decide 2012. and welcome to "fox news" election headquarters in new york. i'm shepherd smith. it is 7:00 on the east coast which means the polls have just closed in six states including the all-important virginia. one of the crucial battleground states that could decide this election. right now the "fox news" decision team has decided that the race in the state of virginia is way too close to call. too close to project, too close a winner.about it's too close to have any idea what has happened. we'll get into the particulars of virginia. how it matters and what it could tell us about the rest of

the nation. the implications are many as virginia goes, well, is models for the rest of the nation may go. then there is the state of georgia. the polls have just closed there at 7:00 eastern and it, too, is too close to call. but then there is the state of indiana. "fox news" now projects governor mitt romney will win the state of indiana which president obama did win four years ago. that's a turnover. 5% of the votes in but the model suggests to us it is good gh to mitt romney according to the "fox news" decision team has won the state of indiana. "fox news" also projects governor romney will win in the bluegrass state kentucky with 4% of all precincts reporting. 2/3 of all voters are voting "fox news" ney and projects romney wins kentucky. outh too close to call in s carolina. none of the precincts are

can project t we president obama will win in the state of vermont. six states where the polls have just closed. we've made calls in two of them. and in the others we can't yet make a call but they'll come. three important senate races among those that have just called. we have three in virginia, democrats are trying to hold tant seat.por for now that race is too close to call between kain and allen. this senate race will give us a lot of information about the way voters were pushed and pulled. there is a third party candidate in here who may or may not he had some effect on the presidential race as it relates specifically to virginia. keep in mind we're not holding one big national elect frun from the presidency tonight. 51 individual contests for electoral votes and those electoral votes will come together, somebody will get 270, the good lord willing, and that person is our next president. let's go on with two more

senate calls in the state of indiana republicans are trying to hold onto a seat. joe donnelly and richard murdoch. richard murdoch a name you may have heard with controversy without the senate race. only 4% of the precincts reporting. murdoch with a slight edge but too close for our decision team to call. in the state of vermont a senate race there. no surprise really. no shows that there are precincts reporting. our decision team is confident that sanders, the independent there, will come in as the winner and retain his seat. bernie sanders entered the house in 1990 and was there until 2006. he became a senator in 2006 and has been until now. he caucuses with the democrats so important for the democrats d onto this. there was not much of a discussion about whether he would hold onto it and indeed he has. he won reelection easily. bernie sanders the next and previous senator from the state of vermont. we'll get to analysis of all of

this and talk about the state of virginia. of course, looking ahead we have some very important states to close shortly. ohio is coming. you may have heard that's a little bit important. first the 7:00 p.m. closing. our ed henry, chief white house correspondent following the obama campaign. headquarters in chicago, of course, carl cameron, our chief political correspondent is at governor romney's headquarters in boston. let's begin with you. >> they're excited, optimistic anxious and awaiting the result. it's an open question as to one might know until 1:00 a.m. or future days. the romney campaign is watching closely florida, virginia and ohio. there are very few victory strategies contemplated by boston, the romney campaign, that don't include the buckeye state and they're concerned about signs of high turn-out in the northern part of ohio where the detroit auto bail-out was a big mallet which the president pounded mr. romney. on the southern border of ohio

along kentucky, particularly along cincinnati, hamilton county, big optimism and turn-out for the republican campaign. virginia, florida, ohio romney believes so go though so goes the country. romney has only written one speech, a victory speech. >> carl cameron. let's get straight to the president's camp in chicago and ed henry. >> shep, the president has been getting very wistful. it started in iowa what started the obama movement. he said today he was crying partly because it was cold out and thinking back four years ago and thinking about everyone turning out for him last night. he is hoping for big turn-outs in big battlegrounds. i got off the phone with one of the president's senior advisors who told me they believe on the early numbers they got, they had a strong african-american turn-out in virginia. it could mean big things in the

presidential race but the senate battle between george allen and tim cain as well. florida another big one, of course. what i'm hearing from the obama camp they say it is too close to call. admitting they don't have that one in the bag yesterday david axle rod they might win all the battlegrounds. they admit tonight they don't have florida in the bag. one official telling me they think the results might not come in until 2:00 a.m. as they sort it all out. what everyone is doing is waiting, frankly. the president's daughters flew in today after school from washington into chicago. they're having a family dinner. the president's private residence here. earlier played basketball. we're told the president's team won by 20 points over friends but scotty pippen was on the president's team and he had help. >> thanks very much. carl, you as well. we'll check back with them from the two campaign headquarters throughout the night. virginia is one of our bell weathers to begin thing.

i'll explain the importance of it all with mike emanuel. hinking of t virginia tonight, mike? >> both sides are expressing confidence and saying they've seen large turn-out in their key areas, which explains why it may be too close to call at this point. we've heard long lines across the commonwealth of virginia. in many places one to three hour waits. prince battleground william county outside washington, d.c. we heard the wait was as long as four hours. it's quite possible although polls have closed, that there are voters still voting here in virginia because state officials told us that if people were in line at 7:00 get to hey would still cast a ballot. bottom line, turn-out is ahead of 2008 numbers. versity of m the uni virginia predicted there would be record turn-out in the

election. four million voters turning out. ^from what we've seen in terms of lines all across virginia, it sounds like those people have turned out in big numbers. of course, on election day a lot of people wonder about the weather. whether weather may have scared people away. it was mild in the 50s or so. a lot of people didn't seem to mind waiting the line to do their duty to the country. >> mike emanuel in richmond, virginia tonight. we'll stay on virginia in a big way. here is why. 2008 barack obama won virginia with 52% of the vote. d e first time any democrat ha won virginia since lbj in 1964. it's one of those states that is changing not as a state, but as regions within a state. northern virginia may be a telltale for us tonight and there are two counties we'll be watching and you can watch along with us. those are prince william county and lou den county outside washington, d.c.

barack obama and joe biden won prince william county in 2008. if they get there tonight, things look very good for the obama campaign no matter who the analyst. in loudon county john mccain and sarah palin lost the vote with 63,000. barack obama and biden won it with 63% of the vote. if barack obama gets to that number or close to it tonight again it's a good night for the democrats. if not, it may be a very long night for all of us. let's bring in our panel to discuss the specifics. ed rollins is here. he was national campaign director for the reagan bush campaign in 1984. republican campaign consultant and a straight shooter. mary ann marsh is a former advisor to senator john kerry who understands the ins and outs of the northeast and many others, and amy stoddard is a columnist for the hill

newspaper. impressive for months on end. let's start with you, virginia. on has of the discussi been about iowa and florida. if romney doesn't win virginia it's hard for him to get to 270. he would have to win florida and north carolina and virginia. then they can worry about the ohios of the world. i think virginia is very key. if some for reason the democrats turn o 243,000 victory last time they come near that the president will get reelected. >> mary ann marsh. >> ed the right. the fact that it's this close and they weren't able to close out virginia early. stopped them from going to other places. they had the same problem with florida. when you look at those two states you realize the dilemma. >> virginia is changing so much. the counties you mentioned. prince william where i started at a reporter used to be they're suburbs. they're becoming more urban.

a transitory area. this is a different electorate. it looks like it favors obama. they think they will get the voters out and i agree with that. if romney misses the mark in virginia it will be a tough night for him to get to 70. >> we all no virginia. it's changing like the rest of cam is changing. one of the big questions tonight is are the polling models going to hold up? ng in hey did the polli the last few days they did it in tame turn-out from 2008 and 2004. with more african-americans, more young people and more latinos. virginia has more of all of those. and if virginia goes democratic, virginia goes to the president, the thinking is that maybe the models are the same for the rest of the country. which would make for a very short night. if it's won by the president. our coverage is just getting started. stay with us. 

>> 15 minutes past the hour. the next polls close in 15 minutes. these have already closed. the state of virginia as important as any on the east coast tonight. the margin has widened. the number of precincts is fewer than 1%. barack obama leads but it is too close to call according to

the "fox news" decision team. n the state of georgia 16 electoral votes up for grabs tonight. we don't have much reporting there. it is way too close to call in georgia. in south carolina, the polls have been closed for 15 minutes. still no precincts reporting. nine electoral votes up for grab and the decision team done what. us who has these are the electoral votes for the states we've already called. you can see them marked in red and blue. on your screen. mitt romney thus far has 19 according to our team. president obama three in the early minutes of a long night. throughout a lot the evening from the exit polls. they'll give us an idea about which way certain demographics are voting. what they thought was important and based on what they thought was important who did they vote for? if you think the economy is very important, who was your choice? if you were thinking the handling of the hurricane that just happened was important, who did you choose? martha mccallum sorting through that with her team for us tonight and she is live with us from the decision desk on the exit polls.

what do you see, martha? >> good evening. as you said it is neck and neck in virginia. here are some of the reasons why. you mentioned we're including the constitution party candidate. good where he registered as he does there. independent voters. they narrowly went for president obama in 2008 and today they're breaking strongly for mitt romney. the independent vote in virginia. back in 2008 as we take a look at seniors in this poll, they went for john mccain over president obama. they seem to be sticking with the republican this evening as well. how about moderates in the old dominion state? siding with president obama once again as they did in 2008 in the early going. we have less than 1% of the keep that we have to in mind in terms of the larger picture. this is a read on what folks were saying when they came out of the polls. young voters are strongly for the president. no big surprise there. e who ere among thos pushed him into the presidency the first time around. and let's take a look at ohio.

obviously the most hotly contested state perhaps of the evening. the issue there is the bail-out of the u.s. automakers. voters who approve of that bail-out strongly backing president obama. he has spoken about it time and time again in his many visits to ohio. those who disapproved of the auto bail-out have gone for mitt romney in a big way. 90 to 7%. virginia and ohio, to states that will tell us a lot when we're finally able to call them. more exit poll data coming up in a little while as well. back to you. >> ohio hasn't closed yet and virginia has, no decision. the "fox news" sunday host chris wallace is here. karl rove deputy chief of staff to president george w. bush and a "fox news" contributor and joe trippi. howard paign manager for dean. the auto bail-out was the last thing martha mccallum mentioned. i heard more than one democrat say today if it comes down to

the auto bail-out barack obama wins the state of ohio and most likely wins the presidency. >> well, you know, actually it's a question i would like to ask karl. why did mitt romney come up with a column, a column in the es" saying let detroit go bankrupt? was there a reason for that? >> that's not what he said in his column it's what "the new york times" headline writer wrote. >> he said send it into a managed bankruptcy. pened.t's what hap president obama sent it into an reorganization. a plan to reorganize the auto companies looks similar to what the president did except he wouldn't have bailed out given the big ownership stakes to the unions. here is what it shows. it shows the power of the anonymous guy who wrote the headline on his op ed. if you read that is a calling for a managed reorganization.

>> it is something that mitt romney has been dealing with in michigan and ohio and a huge anchor around his neck. >> like many things with that campaign they didn't explain it, either. they started trying to explain it towards the end with ads and things but i think they waited way too long so it had already been built into the system. if they lose it will be i think a lot of it will be because they didn't respond to a lot of the attacks that obama painted them with in ohio. >> we've been talking about virginia and it's obviously tremendously important and as shepard noted it hadn't gone for a democrat since 1964, lyndon johnson until obama. now romney is all out trying to squeak out a victory. how did the state become a hard sell? >> it has been changing.

i was surprised kerry didn't make a bid for it in 2004. northern virginia has become very international. large communities of international immigrants from southeast asia, africa, europe. you name it. central and south america. northern virginia has become an immigration magnet. many of them drawn by the hi-tech industry. the tide water area, the largest metropolitan region in the state. here is my little ipad here but we seem to think-- >> we can zoom in. >> it's very small, chris. >> we think of northern virginia as the state's largest population. the biggest population center is down here in the tide water area with a lot of people large -- virginia beach, chesapeake, norfolk. a lot of union people working at the shipyards and military families who come and go and a lot of african-american voters who become energized by president obama. >> you'll be looking through

the night as the counties down there looking at that vote versus loudon and fairfax and some counties up north. >> let's go big picture and so lain why virginia is important. the three, two, one strategy. explain. >> well, there is really three states that went with obama in 2008 that are traditionally and have been virginia, indiana, north carolina. virginia u point out hasn't gone since 1964 democrat. so those three if romney wins he has to win those three. if he wins those then he gets to the two, as karl said many times ohio and florida. and then if he wins those two he has to win any one of new hampshire, iowa, colorado, any other states. >> those three. virginia is the biggest -- they don't stop him they make life a lot more complicated. >> the thing here is you get this sense that it's about the turn-out and up north versus

the turn-out down south. >> shep? >> yes. >> i was told you have a hard out. >> there is commercial break. you'll be going off to local stations and we'll be back at the bottom of the hour with more calls on more races. hope you'll be staying with us. back in two minutes. 

good evening, everyone. the election results starting to come into the fox 5 newsroom. let's look at the latest results for the presidential race. you can see overall with 1% of all the voting coming in now, mitt romney is in the lead with 52%. certainly we have a long night ahead of us. let's look how it breaks down locally. virginia, barack obama leading mitt romney 59% to 40%. only 1% reporting. still, expected to be a close race in virginia. and here's a look at the

virginia senate race. george allen in the lead, 57% to tim kaine's 43%. >> our coverage continues now in virginia, where the polls closed about 20 minutes ago. >> fox 5's karen gray houston is live in fairfax county with the latest there. >> reporter: turnout was heavy. at last report, over 70% of registered voters turns out. we are in burke, virginia, at the lake braddock precinct. secondary school. it's the lake braddock precinct as well as the signal hill precinct, now the anxious waiting begins. up until the last minute political observers were saying barack obama -- basically, they were saying this was a tossup and barack obama might be leading mitt romney by very slim margin. but you heard the numbers that just came into the newsroom. it's just the beginning, the results are just starting to

come in. the lines here long all day long. turnout brisk. the chief elections official here told us they didn't have many problems. the biggest problem was people who turned up and didn't have positive i.d. the big issue of course, who the people want to be the president. surprisingly few of the voters we talked to tonight said they were in mitt romney and apparently the early returns are bearing that out. back in to you. >> karen, thank you. >> there is still time to cast your ballot in maryland. >> lauren demarco is live in laurel tonight. what's it like there now? >> reporter: at one point the wait was about an hour and 30 minutes. it is now just about 15 minutes to cast your vote here. polls close at 8:00 p.m. this evening. big issues you've been talking about, the most debated ones here, question 7 and question

6. the expanded gambling in maryland, and same-sex marriage. we talked to people on both sides of that issue. question 4, the dream act, appeared most people were for that we spoke with. i spoke with a woman who said she voted libertarian. >> it was hard for me to decide who do i agree with. and neither one of them really comes in for me. >> i think my biggest issue was the economy. i think we spend a lot of time worrying about other countries and other, i guess, people's problems, things at home. that was my biggest thing. >> reporter: that gentleman said he is a registered republican, but this time he voted democrat. again, about 15 to 20 people still left inside ready to cast their vote. people that get here before 8:00 p.m. they can still vote in

maryland. back to you. >> thanks for the update tonight. >> going to be an interesting night as we watch the results come in. we'll be back with you in about 30 minutes or so to continue to bring live election results both on air and online at myfoxdc.com. >> that's right. we're streaming them through our mobile app. we'll be back in 20 minutes. fox ne ws" electi on art and the cl-- the p olls have just closed in a number of other states and let's get right to them. first the state of ohio with 18 electoral votes and maybe the most important state of the night. it's part of the president's midwestern firewall. the spot where he said no matter what he will be able to hold up. that remains to be seen. but at this point we can tell you the "fox news" decision desk has decided it is too close to call in the state of ohio. closed arolina has just as well. north carolina an important

state throughout the night. 15 electoral votes there. a battleground state. closed but too close to call. of virginia as we've mentioned throughout the evening, virginia has been closed since the top of the hour since 7:00 eastern time. we've gotten more precincts in a whopping 2% of precincts now reporting. 40% romney has a 58% to lead. don't let that sway your thinking in these early goings with 2% of the precincts in and we aren't sure which 2% those are. virginia is too close to call. the state of georgia is on the board as well. it closed at 7:00, a half hour go. 1% of the precincts are reporting. this state will bring forth 16 electoral votes. the state of georgia still too close to call. south carolina closed a half hour ago as well. it was too close to call then and too close to call now. look at that. less than 1% of precincts reporting and you can guess it's in a highly democratic

precinct that's in. barack obama is leading with 77% of the vote but with less than 1% this means almost nothing. it's in the early going in south carolina and it's too close to call. finally west virginia has now closed and the "fox news" decision desk has called this. you may be surprised to learn with no precincts reporting the decision desk is safe to say that mitt romney has won the state of west virginina and its five electoral votes. the polls have closed. no precincts reporting. less than 1% anyway and "fox news" projects mitt romney has won the state of west virginia and its five electoral votes. let's get to the overall tally. in the early going you can see three states have gone red. one state has gone blue. the electoral college count is romney 24, president obama 3. and we are just getting started. so what's on our board right now? the state of ohio is. as ohio goes, the president believes if he wins it, most likely he has it.

history tells us no republican has ever won the white house without first winning the state of ohio. you can chart a course for mitt romney that doesn't include ohio but it is very, very difficult. make no mistake the campaigns have spent the final days in that state both sides of this campaign. in fact, mitt romney was there today. and our steve brown is there as well live in columbus with more on this enormous battleground. what's the mood, steve? >> well, the polls have closed but voting continues. it is a situation around the ohio state university campus that we're aware of now that if you are in line as the polls close you still get a chance to vote. they will let whoever was in the line part of the 7:30 vote. we started receiving reports that there was a line of over 700 nero -- near ohio state university and one person said it is more like 200. the governor said he was on his way out there to keep folks

entertained and keep them company to keep them in line. in this state there is no such thing as extra votes. karl alluded to this a few minutes ago there will be an earlier indicator how this state goes. folks who were veteran political watchers in the state say about 45 minutes in, about 8:15 because the early votes are the ones that get counted and because the obama campaign has made it so central to the campaign strategy that should give them an idea how many votes or what size of a lead the early voting state the obama campaign. one operative told me if it's between 150 and 200,000 it may be a very long night for them. if it's less than that it gets more and more encouraging. it looks like turn-out will be just about flat from what it was in 2008, 5.8 million votes and only 260,000 separated john mccain and barack obama in that race which was not perceived to be close. it should be much closer than that. shep. >> steve brown in ohio.

we'll check back often. big picture on ohio is this. if the winner in ohio wins by 2% or more, everything is fine. 100,000 votes most likely that would be. there will be no recount in ohio is in the bag. if less than that we have a different story and there are a this f lawyers in ohio and could go not hours, but days or frankly weeks. let's get to the big board and bill hammer and the billboard to find out more about the state of ics in the ohio. it's complicated. your home state. >> good evening and by state law they would not count those ballots until november 17th. 10 days later. show you what is happening now, shepherd. at s is what we're looking with ohio. polls just closed. you'll see all 88 counties start to turn red for republican and blue for democrat. the keys to victory in 2008, a state that barack obama won and how did he do it?

the blue counties here. he won in areas like cuyahoga. that's cleveland. stark county and summit county, n.ron and can to he won in franklin county, columbus, capital city. wood, lewis, toledo, montgomery county where dayton and hamilton county. that's cincinnati. if mitt romney is to win this state tonight, keep your eye here in the southwestern part of the state. that is hamilton county. it had not voted for a democrat in that county since 1964 but four years ago barack obama flipped it by eight points in hamilton county. will it go back to red? we're about to find out very soon tonight. the other area to watch i would say the outlying counties here in hamilton county. people a lot of folks who grew up in cincinnati have moved to the count outer counties and suburbs. warren county. look what john mccain did four years ago. 68% of the vote seems good. look what george bush in the

same county in 2004. 72% of the vote. can mitt romney match the george bush numbers of 2004? can he exceed those? that's part of what we're trying to gauge throughout the night. poll closings quickly coming up on 8:00 in a matter of moments here. a heads-up. the state of florida at 29 electoral votes. >> we'll look forward to seeing you throughout the night. he talked about the two important states. pennsylvania, is that really in play? we should know shortly. florida, will romney carry that? a key to success. we should find out when polls close at the top of the our. we'll be back with the former white house press secretary and "fox news" contributor as well as bob beckel, a man who knows much about this process. coverage of you decide 2012.

>> 20 minutes before the hour and we have yet another state to call as fox continues our election coverage 2012. here it is. "fox news" now projects south carolina goes not to the man who is leading at this moment with less than 1% of the precincts reporting but to mitt romney. in 2008 john mccain won this

state with 54% of the vote. obama had 45% of the vote. it was widely believed it would go republican and it has. "fox news" projects south carolina for the republicans. in addition, virginia which closed 45 minutes ago, virginia still too close to call with 3% of the precincts reporting. ohio two very important states back-to-back. ohio with nothing to report just yet. we're starting to get a couple of precincts. and ohio be a while all-important. 18 electoral votes. too close to call. north carolina now. also a battleground state. 15 electoral votes there. president obama won it in 2008. it was razor thin and it is razor thin now. too close to call with 8% of the precincts reporting. in the state of georgia where n closed have bee since 7:00 eastern time 16 electoral votes up for grabs you see there is a wide

disparity there. 71-28%. thing of it. 2% of the precincts are reporting and too close to call. the count based on "fox news" projections and the "fox news" states you can see four have now gone red. one state has now gone blue. 33-3 mitt romney but with fore we sleep. joining us now former democratic campaign manager and "fox news" contributor bob beckel and the co-host of the five on "fox news channel" which airs at 5:00 eastern time and dana perino, a "fox news" contributor. we've been saying all night virginia, virginia, virginia, the suburbs in northern irginia outside washington may tell a story tonight. >> the reporting you just had no new surprises yet. everything that we've been reading about for months leading up to this is what we predicted. the states too close to call,

pennsylvania, ohio we don't have the results and virginia. the turn-out really matters. i think that it might be hours before you know ohio. it could be a long time before you know virginia as well. >> thank you very much. that's all right. by the way, it was a good call on that 71-26. the -- let me put it this way about virginia. romney should have run up a lead and i'm surprised about that. i conceded that to him. looks to me like it will be a very dead heat race. the other thing that surprised me a little bit is north carolina. i would have assumed that romney would have been pulling away in north carolina and it wouldn't be too close to call. assuming he will win north carolina. talking rybody keeps about it. i think it's an issue that is resolved as far as i'm concerned. obama will win it. >> there is a lot going on in virginia. the independent candidate virgil good for senate. there was thinking he might

pull some votes away from mitt romney and that might be a help for the president. i've gotten word the lines are long and they need volunteers to help people clear out the lines even though the polls have closed. if you're mitt romney and you lose virginia, you are the number of paths to the white house has diminished significantly. >> if it turns out that good takes away votes from romney i'm sure that would be some work to be said. virginia in particular when the rural counties start coming in those will go for romney. interesting all of these states what you're seeing a longer term analysis is to look at what is happening in urban the rural parts. almost all these states cut them all into -- from all the big states and you get down to the map and around the colored counties and cities.

>> it's virgil good. he got knocked out of his seat. he will take votes away from romney. if romney doesn't win virginia he'll make custer look like he was in a safe place. >> one thing about virginia it's demographics has changed. it has asians, african-americans, latinos an part of the changing landscape of the electorate across the country. if virginia is one that romney loses we can look to the west and say their demographics have changed, too. >> northern virginia you have a lot of professional people working somehow tied to government. government spending good for them. if you look in norfolk, virginia, that is defense spending, watch those votes. >> i have to hit a commercial break. you'll be back with us. some of you will go away to local coverage of local race. we'll be back for all of you in five minutes. for some of you right after this. 

>> 11 minutes 35 seconds until 8:00 eastern time, polls closing and there are a lot of

them. we'll soon have a much clearer idea of the way the night is going. idea of the way the night is going. so far a number of states have closed. we've made calls. the ones still close to call is virginia, 6% of precincts reporting. romney 57, barack obama 41%. too close to call in the early going. the state of ohio very important less than 1% of close cts in and way too to call. north carolina 15 electoral votes. 10% of precincts reporting. it's way too close to call. in the state of georgia where the polls closed 49 minutes ago 16 electoral votes up for grabs and too close to call. here is the big board as we have it now. three ent obama with electoral votes. mitt romney with 33 electoral votes. four states gone red. one state gone blue and we're just getting started. back to the panel. campaign s, national

the reagan-bush campaign. marion march and amy stoddard and we've been focusing in the early going on the first of the bell weather states to close. the first of the battleground states to close was virginia. virginia's polling and their lines for voting shaping up to maybe be a story tonight. >> the obama campaign 30 minutes ago sent out a text asking for volunteers to come to the polls. text them back because they needed volunteers to keep people in line to make sure they vote. if you're running a campaign, ed knows this. if you think you're close you want every single person in line goes through the door and votes. you need a lot of people to do that. re still in s they a line they'll get to vote. you have to be finished by midnight. >> buy them a donut and cup of coffee. >> we're talking about virginia and ohio. i have gotten this from routers. early voters in ohio

chose obama. it's expected early voting would favor the democrats. it always does. by what margin? >> go ahead. hey'll blicans promise t win ohio on election day. they're election day voters and feel confident they would overcome what the democrats see as a lead in early voting. they say that they are up in early voting themselves way over john mccain. >> breaking news on the fox network and "fox news" now projects the state of georgia the republican has won in the state of georgia. mitt romney with 66% of the vote. 2% of the precincts in. 2/3 of all thus far to mitt romney. it won't be that lopsided by the end of the night but our decision team is confident the state of georgia has gone republican and called that now 51 minutes in. a little secret. a slight little mistake was made in the booth and the thinking was we were about to call the state of virginia. not the truth. and i won't even repeat what i

heard in my ear. virginia they're still lined up to vote and it will be a while. go ahead. >> it sounds like it could be a long night in virginia if they close the polls but keep you there and let you keep voting. >> that will happen in florida as well. >> what you said before is interesting. it all comes down to the models. the campaigns disagree on what the samples are of the electorate. romney team is expecting a whiter electorate. the silent majority not showing up in the polls and the democrats are expecting they registered new voters to cover themselves to cover the lack of enthusiasm and that they'll win the night. >> it is not just that they've registered new voters in advance. you can register day of and in some states, like ohio. they had thousands of people on the obama side to go out and grab voters, not voters who you had a history on. we know he voted four years ago this way and about which you knew almost nothing and you had so much information, so much money and so many people that

you could go out and grab people that no one has tried to approach before. will that be successful in ohio, for instance? if it is for the obama campaign, the night could be president obama's. but it is very early going to suggest something like that. t to go you are abou away now. i was wrong last time for local some local races. we have a lot of states closing at the top of the hour. we'll be back for that. this is fox on election night coverage. 

we have some breaking news out of virginia. the polls there closed at sen but the state board of election says that many people are still waiting in line in certain areas of the commonwealth. those votessers mo were in line before 7:00 will still be able to cast their votes. as a results. the board of election has agreed to pause reporting until 8:00 p.m. to make sure that vote he is are not influenced by the results. >> the outcome of the race in the virginia could determine if the democrats keep their thin majority in the senate. >> reporter: there are no results yet from virginia.

i'm glad he explained why because i've been going to the state of election boards page and baffled since the polls have been closed for an hour -- not closed. obama and other democrats won in 2008 and turnout was much lower in 2009 and 2010 when the republicans did very well in virginia. they say this time, there are now 100,000 more voters than there were in 2008 and the democrats are very happy, very confident. mo lassi, senior advice or to nominate tim kaine, says that it seems from their polling that democrat productic voters are coming out in greater numbers than are republican spradache voters. people around here are not claiming victory here at kaine

headquarters but are claiming confident, so much so that they claim that tim kaine may win bigger than barack obama. >> from the democrat candidate to the republican contender. bob is with the allen campaign. are they just as confident there? >> reporter: they are calling this a victory party. they know it's going to be a close race, a close night, a long night. out only for the senate seat but also for the presidency. i'm thinking that if mitt romney does not win virginia, he will not win the presidency. george allen voted with his wife susan. theyshe has been down here talking to us. george allen will be at the hotel some time tonight. we don't know when that will be with the polls being held open, you know, as long as another hour, it's going to be a long while before the results come

in. with 3%, mitt romney is way ahead but, again, that's only 3% of the commonwealth vote so far. so they sure hope it's going to turn out that way but they know it's going to be a close night. we'll be here. when the senator comes down at some point tonight, we'll hear what he says, whether that's a victory celebration or not. could be a very late night. >> are you guys on the ground getting a sense of the national picture as well? are they keeping as close an eye on the romney-obama race as its appears the tim kaine camp is? >> reporter: absolutely they are. mitt romney had 26 campaign appearances here in the commonwealth. they are very much keeping an eye on that, seeing how ohio goes, which closed early and, of course, a pivotal state. they are definitely thinking that how it goes for mitt romney which is driving many people to the polls, the

presidential race, even here in virginia and across the country is how lit go for george allen. >> stay with fox 5 for continuing coverage throughout the night. we'll bring you live election results both on air and online. >> we'll stream live to our mobile app as well. see you here in about 20 minutes. is there a partisan divide? you e is, but we have important news to get to, and that happens now. this is a fox election alert, and polls are just closed in a number of states because it is 8:00 on the east coast, 7:00 p.m. in the central time zone, and here is what we have. of the battleground states, the most important may be at this moment, the state of florida already 41% of precincts reporting because they do so automatically, and largely because -- there are two times in florida. the eastern time, we all know this from the 2000 election, the eastern time zone has been closed for an hour. the panhandle, which means fort walton beach, panama city, pensacola, all the counties

around the panhandle had just closed, so their numbers are not yet in. the old saying about florida is the for the north you go, the father southern you get, which means the panhandle is republican territory. the southeast part of the status democratic territory. what decides florida is the interstate corridor that stretches from tampa to orlando and all the way to daytona beach and some small communities in between. that area there will decide florida. that area is in. the panhandle is just coming in. let's look at florida again. it is lopsided at the moment. you can see or you will be able to see in a moment that in a state of florida with 41% of precincts reported, there is a lopsided lead at the moment for barack obama -- lopsided by florida standards. at any rate, they will all come in item appeared florida is to close to call. pennsylvania just came in here you may know that the run a campaign make noises in the past few days about how pennsylvania

may be in play. president clinton went as and obama surrogate to pennsylvania, made four stops including two in philadelphia. mitt romney went back today. in pennsylvania is in play, this is a very long night for barack obama, but is it? right now, it is too close to e a hampshire, 1% of the precincts reporting in stated in answer. one thing about new hampshire is it is a very small state. you cannot get a lot by winning the hampshire, unless, of course, you want to win the presidency. you think four electoral votes cannot decide this race? you are wrong. hampshire is a tossup state. it is a bellwether state, and it is to close to call. the state of ohio, as mentioned, to close to call. they closed 30 minutes ago. lopsided victory at the moment for barack obama, but with just 7% of precincts reporting, think nothing of that. the state of virginia still in play. we will be watching that throughout the night. 12 percent of precincts reporting, and right now, mitt

romney has a healthy lead in a state of virginia, but again, virginia is a number of different demographics within one, so whatever precincts reporting, we do not even know yet. to decide where va would go is way too early. north carolina is important for us tonight. north carolina has been close throughout the evening and still is. 23% of precincts reporting. at some point we will have a call here, but not now. the state of missouri also to close to call, closing in just the last few minutes. a state of missouri to close to call in the early going, and the state of tennessee, the volunteer state with less than 1% of precincts reporting -- again, it looks lopsided. it is not. a number of other states just close. new jersey, oklahoma -- new jersey will be interesting throughout the night. electoral votes there. states that have closed where we made calls, which were absolutely expected. look at the red zone in dixie down there appear in mississippi, alabama, georgia,

south carolina. we called south carolina and little while ago. mississippi and alabama solidly red. oklahoma as well. if you look of the eastern seaboard, no surprises there. president obama right now with a 78 electoral votes. governor romney with 71 electoral votes. now florida has closed. as you know, we have been getting exit polls throughout the evening. they give us an idea about how people thinking today. what are you learning? >> what we're going to look at now is our national exit poll that checks the mood of the country. voters believe that president obamacare is -- obama cares, quot4e, about people like them. 43% say they do believe he

favors the middle class. he has talked about growing the economy from the middle class out, so this seems seem to have resonated. let's look at how both these candidates, weather or not they are trusted handling an international crisis. this may be the only area where an number of recent events fall in, including what has unfolded in benghazi, and you see that president obama, 56% say they do trust him to handle an international crisis. 43% say they do not. let's check that measure would romney voters tonight. you will see that he is also trusted as someone who can handle an international crisis by 51%. 45% say they do not trust him in that regard. voters say they want a candidate with a vision for the future -- this has been a very strong on the theme for the last few weeks. that seems to have at home as well.

president obama's garrett reid scoring high with people who say they share -- he shares their values. a lot of these places still too close to call. it looks like it will be a long night. >> it does. >> that is the theme of the evening. we will go back to market throughout the evening. florida just close. i mentioned that section from tampa bay up through orlando all the way to tampa beach. kissimmee there in the middle. you are all very important to these candidates, and that is why you have seen so much of them. i'm surprised they did not have to pay taxes in state of florida. oh, wait, that is not how it works. steve, how's it looking? >> we are getting drips and drabs of information, mainly about the early voters. 4.5 million people voted early here that is the 40% mark. and information now being released shows a four-point edge for president obama.

we're expected to get more information in the next few minutes, but keep in mind that even though the polls are closed, people are still voting even in this eastern counties. if you were in - 7 o'clock, you are still allowed to vote. at 7:00 p.m. in many of those counties, hundreds of people were in line. we have heard a lot of complaints about the lines. in early voting, things did go a lot smoother, but still in some areas, there was a six-hour line to it, so many people extremely determined, still casting their votes in florida, even though the polls are officially closed. if you are in line at 7:00, you are still allowed to vote. one area to keep your eye on is this eye-for corridor. two counties show leads for president obama, both in orange county, which includes orlando, and right here, hillsborough county, which includes tampa. this county seen as a key bellwether. it has gone with every winner of

a presidential election except one since 1960. a really bitter fight county in a bitter fight territory in a key swing state. >> steve in tampa, watching over florida. very important point was just made there. remember, prior to today in early voting in the state of florida, 41% of all votes cast were before today. and we already know the results of this, and barack obama won them by 4%. let's bring in our panel. the national campaign director from reagan/bush in 1984. campaign consultant and fox news contributor. democratic consultant, former adviser to senator john kerry, the associate editor and columnist for the hill newspaper. florida -- romney needs it. in fact, he pretty much has to have it, and he was leading in the early voting -- he was losing, trailing, in early voting. >> this guarantees an extremely close race. even the north part you talked about, the old congressional

district comes in. as he is going to be a very, very tight race. this was a race that was won by 250,000 votes last time. as it will be a couple thousand this time. >> "a couple thousand this time ." mitt romney has been winning in florida anywhere from four to most recently seven points. in polls that are widely respected and well-adjusted, from pollsters who understand florida like the back of their hand, suddenly, it is much closer. >> again, this is what we have been talking about. when you look at the obama approach of registering people that do not get into the polls, that makes a difference. it is not impossible for mitt romney to catch in florida, but it would be tough. even if obama loses florida, the fact that he penned romney down there until yesterday, a state he should have put away a long time ago -- >> romney should have put away. >> romney should have put away did not allow him to go other states to pick up other electoral votes.

even if obama loses florida, it will have been worth it to pin money down. am i wonder about medicare, what that did. >> we have been watching the polls, and it shows that that has not had seniors running scared. we have seen rumbling in recent polls, but these last couple of hours and days, the poll did tighten. marion makes a point of it was a good investment on obama's part. irani has got to win florida. -- romney has got to win florida. >> there's no way these two states -- florida, virginia, which we knew would be tight, we knew would be contested -- if he loses, it makes them almost impossible. >> if we were watching for trends tonight, here's one of them. we know the obama campaign had made a decision and spent a lot of money and a lot of human resources on this. if you are mining for gold, there's a lot of big chunks of gold, and your party got them. those little bit chunks are too expensive to go that.

the technology is too much. it costs too much money. it is not with it. now you have a lot more money than anybody has ever had. billions of dollars spent on this race. you have more manpower because your systems were put in place four years ago, so here's what it looks like this happen. president obama's campaign has tried to go in and find voters who know pollster would ever have gone after, no campaign would ever be sure enough that it would be voting for them. they went down to the fringes of the sample and said, "we will take you to the poll taken by the thousands and tens of thousands, they had done it. the question was if it would pay off. would it tighten things enough? in florida, if it -- brought a spread down to a razor-thin margin, what has it done to ohio? has it slung it over to president obama? that was the hope, but the romney camp said that is not what was going to happen. "look at our enthusiasm. look at the turnout."

our people are going to run a red light to get to the polling booth where your people are going to walk gingerly." we are not sure yet, but in florida, the trend seems to be toward gold mining, and the little bit chunks work. >> theuxthhethhe obama campaign had is to your point -- time and money. the decisions we used to have to make -- we did not have enough time to get those kinds of voters because it took some time on election day and so much money -- you had to go persuade likely voters. now, you have six weeks and all the money in the world. you can spend a year trying to get these people and it pays off every single time. >> this is the ultimate media state, a state like where i grew up here in more money spent in that state than ever before in a presidential campaign. people said you could not organize it. obviously, i think they have organized it. >> what we waiting for? virginia, ohio, north carolina, florida -- to close to call. maybe soon. we'll be right back.

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>> it is past the hour, and we made the big calls from the states that were up for question at the top of the hour. here are some new ones that have closed. the state of new jersey projects it goes democrat. here is shocker, illinois democrats, illinois and its votes with less than 1% reporting. the staid of alabama republican. mississippi goes to romney. the state of oklahoma goes to romney. the state of georgia goes to romney and the state of south carolina goes to mitt romney. and now the map and the votes as

we have them. mitt romney is getting 82 and obama 78 and we are just get started on a tuesday night. let's go to tennessee, president we have just made a call now, the state of tennessee, we have just made a call. tennessee goes to mitt romney. not is surprise here. 13% expect in and mitt romney has won tennessee. 270 needed by the end of the night. and where do we stand? let's get the democratic perceptive who is senior advise man for the romney camp.

something you are liking, out of the state of florida, what is that? sorry,ed. you lost by 4% in the early voting what is that about the rest of the evening? >> florida is turning out in the heavy republican areas and we feel good about the turnout. and if you look at the pan handle, it is through the roof. our data shows it is trending heavily romney's way. >> i will wait till the national anthem is over. i will go back to the panel. you know how fast we are going, we called ed a democrat. these numbers in florida are more serious than what he admitted. >> reporter: fox news has

projected the democrat in pp cumbent will win the race. and that is a question of people coming in and splitting the ticket. >> there is a history of ticket splitting and ed knows that state well. but 4% is a lot to overcome. >> it is and what does that say about virginia and other states romney absolutely needs. i am looking at new hampshire, it is state that obama thinks they have put away. they think florida after ohio is their best shot. >> republicans went to a lot of links to get florida.

it has taken for people an hour to read the ballot. ed is back with us, senior advisor for the romney campaign. >> thank you very much. that was a beautiful rendition of the anthem. this 4% trailing in early voting, mary ann marsh and here is and ed thinks that is not a good sign for the night. last time 7% win and this time 4% deficit in the state with 41% in. i am not saying you can't in florida but that is a mountain to climb. >> we can win definitely. there is a different approach for the democrats for early voting. we turn out high voters on

election day and get low early voters. so we feel very good at florida and where you look at the areas of turnout, very high and in counties that mccain carried and if you look at the panhandle, we feel good. >> we have been watching the balance between turnout and we have seen crowds overflowing and this we haven't seen before, that verses this tell established ground game. >> we have seen incredible intensity and there is about a

5-8 points advantage. republicans have a 5-7 point advantage. and the democrats ground game, they talk about it and if you look in the polls, we are even with contacting people. and we have had incredible voter contact here and most importantly is romney has a message about getting this economy out and of the ditch and we have closed on a very, strong, positive plan to grow the middle class and the president hasn't. he is talking about small thinks whereas romney is talking about big things. so we feel con ifdant fudant. >> i am pleased to know, but

your home state of virginia, we have in a real battle. and what is your thoughts there? >> i am excited about the turnout in roanoke and in chesapeake and virginia beach. northern virginia is high and that is the swing state part. we feel good about our turnout in northern virginia but a lot comes down there. i believe we will carry my home state of virginia tonight. >> thanks, ed. i just read in the globe on line that private jets are stringing in there and to the airports and

donors are coming in for the night. >> it has already started as you can see. >> a lot to do and in just a moments, some of our viewers will go to local races. these trends on the national level can trickle down to local as well. some of you will stay with us, and we will be back for more calls at the bottom of the hour glad to have you in. you are terrible. i can't see. ooh, turn up the brightness. it's already up oh, oh, ooh, sorry buddy, you know some of us destroy zombies and some of us feed em. how am i suppose to win? your screen is like as big as my phone.

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>> the race for the white house coming into focus and president obama has taken d.c.along with maryland. >> all eyes on virginia tonight. 23% report, romney is leading

with 57% and obama are 42%. going hand in hand, the senate race, the results as we have them. allen is up and 28% of the precinct reporting there. >> good evening, we have been tracking this and the remarkable thing about what we are seeing is that not the story line for tim kane we thought we would see. because we don't know the vote in large portions of virginia. >> they are not reporting the results even though the polls are closed. >> now, where we see lots of al

allen's strength is coming from the southwest portion. and we see parts where tim is doing well, but the big question is the big-four we talked about earlier. does george allen really need to lock down prince william and louden if he has fair shot? >> it is similar to the race governor romney needs to run. william and louden is bellwether counties. and will allen beat bob mcdonald or john mccain, that is what we are talking about. >> one of things that governor

bob mcdonald have going for him was a strong base and hampton records and new port news in virginia beach and george allen doesn't seem to have this. so it is large wall for allen to scale? >> i think he will do equally as well. they say don't talk about mcdonald, because the elector was a third less. and it is question of that was a too small universe. there will be larger universe and the democrats will be better. . we will send it back up to you. >> stay with us for continuing coverage and we will bring you

live results. and just a reminder, we will always be streaming live. ve. otta go because there is a race to call, and it is coming up right now, and away we go. at his election in america. i am shepherd smith in new york, and polls just close in the state of arkansas -- i am shepard smith. stunningly, fox is can make a projection, and the solid south -- a new projects in these days, but arkansas has gone republican. the only state to close at 8:00 eastern, 7:30 central. six electoral votes to mitt romney, the republican. here are the ones we're still watching, still to close to call. florida now with 24% of all precincts reporting. mitt romney with a healthy lead,

but again, do not be deceived. florida is neck-and-neck. this is virginia now. virginia with 56 to 42 for mitt romney. too close to call. the next state on the list, as we're working through them tonight, is the state of ohio. ohio with 20% of precincts reporting, still too close to call. next on the list is the state of florida. florida now 56% of all precincts reporting, but in florida, it is still too close for the fox news decision team. next status pennsylvania, astoundingly still fewer than 1% of recent reporting, 888 votes to 512. we are a long way from calling the state of pennsylvania. the venture and its four electoral votes, 5% of precincts reporting. hampshire still too close to call. in the state of north carolina, almost half of all precincts are in. more than 2 million votes are counted for, but it is still too close to call in the state of

north carolina. the state of missouri, less than 1% of precincts reporting. mitt romney with a lead there, but it does not mean much, not in the early going. we did not henoughata, and it still too close to call. here's the big picture -- mitt romney with 88 electoral votes. president obama with 78. 270 needed to win, and we are just getting started. many of you have been away with your local coverage, and some of you are just back with us. we've been speaking with our panel. among those, ed rollins, a republican consultant who has worked in number of campaigns. mary ann marsh, a democratic consultant, less volatile number of campaigns herself, and amy stoddard, consultant for "the hill" newspaper in washington. we are seeing struggles in florida and struggles in virginia, and we have been talking about that here while you have been away in local coverage. for republicans, it does not bode well. >> it still too early to waive

any white flags. the critical thing is $90.4 million each campaign would have gotten from public financing. they have had all the money they needed to win the state's. >> it is amazing when you think about what they're running in florida, but we're looking at all told, $6 billion in probably in the final estimates. i do not know how the night will turn out, but we went into it in historic high. after all that money spent, it is quite amazing. >> in virginia, we are still waiting for the counties of and around washington, once were demographics have changed, where the president is widely believed to need to win by a good bit, whereas if mitt romney gets close, it is a good sign in virginia, but we do not know yet. >> from everything and hearing, it may be some time before we know that. if you are in line, you get to

vote. the obama campaign put out a text asking for volunteers to help keep people in line. it tells you a lot about what is going on in virginia. >> new hampshire, only four electoral votes. often, the folks in massachusetts come over to new hampshire to run campaigning for both sides, but they had a huge senate race in massachusetts this year, and we'll get to that in a little bit. new hampshire has just sort of floated out there in the ether. new hampshire i'd like to be courted, and i don't know -- may be they did not get as much of it this year -- new hampshirites like to be courted, and may be they did not get as much of it this year as they would have liked. >> in a sense, they have seen more visits than a lot of other states, but at the same time, you are absolutely right. they need a lot of attention, and this is one of the places where we had a chance to talk to

some of the folks over a pint or dinner. you know what they're talking about today? the long lines. big voter turnout. that was expected. the secretary of state believe that was going to happen, and it did come to pass. he's estimating about 722,000 people would be voting in the state of new hampshire. we are still waiting for polemist to coming in, but it looks like there was a big turnout. we saw long lines today. one of the polling locations, there was a line that went all the way back to the end of the gym, up some stairs, back out onto the street. we had a chance to talk to voters on both sides of the issue, and it is hard to read the tea leaves. there's no early voting in the state. you can vote by absentee if you want, but it is tough to say who will pull things out when things are this close. >> new hampshire, women. >> could have a woman governor, two women members of congress, already two women in the senate.

>> all right, a lot of things still in the mix. florida in the mix. virginia, ohio, new hampshire, pennsylvania. much to be learned yet tonight. we are seeing some trends, and we will get to those. let's show you some election boards of what we have already learned. we will get into what we are waiting to learn. it is election night in america, and you are on the fox broadcast network. nice to have you with us. the capability of a pathfinder with the comfort of a sedan and create a next-gen s.u.v.

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>> 21 minutes before 9:00 on the east coast of the united states, and here is the electoral vote s fox news projects. governor romney of massachusetts, republican candidate with 88 electoral votes. president obama with 78 electoral votes, on route to 270. that is with the winner needs tonight. we are still waiting for some bellwether states to come through. virginia was one of them. we still have no call in the state of virginia for presidency. it closed at 7:00 eastern time,

but the presidential race far from the only contest we have been watching closely. republican house majority leader, congressman eric cantor, also running tonight, and foxes projects he is the winner. fox news has called this race with 37% of all precincts reporting. he has a 59% edge over his democratic opponent. fox news projects congressman cantor has won. good to see you tonight. congratulations on the wind. when you look at virginia and the trends there and florida and the trends there, what is your thinking? >> thank you. listen, i know today we had lines that started even before the polls opened. my district is a congressional district that has waited around the suburbs of richmond. it has always been a republican stronghold. it has consistently performed at

the level you are seeing in my race tonight. looking for a big win for us here in virginia. hearing a lot of things right now, but very excited about the win we just posted. >> congratulations on that. one of the things we have been watching and, i think, the nation has is this balance between the enthusiasm we have certainly witnessed and the "get out the vote" machine that is vaunted and much celebrated on the part of the democrats. florida is closer than many republican observers thought it would be. virginia is as well. i just wonder if you think it will come down to that. >> it is. it will come down to the turnout. we have always known that. as you suggest, our enthusiasm among republican voters that came out today is reflective of the fact that we've got a lot of momentum in virginia. again, we are hoping for a

great night. >> when we look up to the west, we've got ohio coming down the road.ad.ro eeve watching a number of areas there, specifically along the southern part of ohio where the tea party has a real stronghold. you were hoping for big numbers. ohio may be a long night, and it could be a recount, but i wonder if you could give the people of ohio a sense for how important they are and what your thinking is going forward. >> there's no question the people of ohio are extremely in the epicenter of it all tonight. i know that there are parts of that state that we live -- rely very heavily on the coal industry, an industry being threatened by the policies of this president and his administration, and i know they are extremely motivated to come out to vote today. encourage them, thank them. we have in our state as well in southwest virginia, an industry that is very nervous right now in terms of the outcome of the election tonight. there are a lot of jobs on the

line, and as we know, this election is very much about how we return this economy to a prosperous past, how we can get people back to work. >> house majority leader eric cantor, who has won his congressional district again tonight. thank you. back to our panel now. the ones we have been talking with for the last hour. we want to bring in a fox news contributor, a former official with the state department, republican, obviously. >> obviously. >> obviously. well, the last names as a lot. >> i make my own decisions. >> i know you do. we are watching trends tonight. the expectation of the romney camp was they would be up much higher than this. we know the early voting, they came in - 4%. they were losing in early voting. in the last election cycle, senator mccain was winning by 7. >> if you look at early voting and look at what the obama campaign had to do in order to

counter the margin we will have tonight, it is clear across the board they have not done it. also, you have seen in virginia, you have coal country where there have been lines around the block. we know for sure those are not obama of voters. in florida, a situation where you have not got a lot of the panhandle votes in, and you have massive lines. i would urge anyone who is in line to stay in line. we have a situation where this is a very close race, but i feel really good about what we're seeing so far in terms of counties that have not reported and the extent that we know you have a lot of republicans in line waiting to vote. >> we had some of the biggest crowds and some of the most enthusiastic crowds we've seen for governor romney at the end, and the thinking was there had been a turn out surge in michigan, wisconsin, ohio. >> you have seen in ohio, for example -- that i think is 17% higher in counties that mccain carried in 2008 and counties that obama carried. a big difference there. >> thank you. we'll be right back.

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>> 15 minutes to 9:00 on the east coast, and more polls will be closing men. we will have more decisions from the fox news decision desk. first, senate races we are watching, and the polls are closed in these areas. this is the indiana senate race. richard mourdock, a name that has stirred some controversy, we have been watching this closely. he is trailing slightly to the democrat, but only 48% of precincts reporting, and it is still too close to call. the state of virginia as well as one we have watched closely. close one with the republican. there is an independent candidate here as well with the thinking was might get some numbers, but you can see apparently not playing much of a part. 31% of the votes are in, and so far, republican george allen with a slight lead, another name you might remember well. in the missouri senate race, clare macassar go and -- claire

mccaskill and todd akin -- akin trailing. this is the one democrats did not seek to win anyway, and suddenly, they got a gift in their hand. still to close to call their, as it is in the state of massachusetts where they have pumped millions of dollars into the senate race. scott brown, the incumbent, the republican who won with his truck for last time around. elizabeth warren has come in with a lot of money and some enthusiasm, may be riding the coattails of a democratic presidential candidate who has won in the state of massachusetts tonight. elizabeth warren leading, but with only 5% of precincts reporting, it is to close to call. joining us from chicago, president obama's senior campaign adviser, robert gibbs. nice to see you. i am looking at florida. in the early voting, your winning by 4%, were last time, you were trailing by 6. the state of virginia is still a struggle.

ohio still in play. how are you feeling in chicago? >> we feel great so far. i will say this about florida -- we did great in early voting. understand we had a lot fewer days of early voting this time. folks that might have been able to go to the polls and too early voting will end up being the ones that are standing in line right now. i want to say this -- let the record clearly reflect that liz cheney agree on this -- stay in line. if you have a friend in line to vote, go take them dinner and some water. make sure your voice is heard. >> i am wondering and our panel was wondering if when we look back on this night if it will not be the mining for the flakes of gold that might have done this, getting into the small areas with voters not a lot of people knew and your ground game has brought a lot people to the precincts that might not have been found in previous elections. >> we have always thought a big turnout was a good thing for us. i will say this -- if you had

told me six months or six days ago that this would come down to who got their vote out on the ground in some of these important battleground states, i would be pretty happy, and i feel great about where we are right now. >> robert gibbs from chicago, one of the president's main man, watching the numbers come in for us. see you later tonight, and thank you. we were talking earlier about this massachusetts senate race. it is close. >> yes, it is. $80 million spent and no outside pac money. massachusetts has a terrible history of electing women. ever elected a woman to united states senate, never elected a woman governor. only had four women in congress, even though we've been around forever. tough, but i think she pulls it out. >> it is not over there, but scott brown having a tough time. >> i think he is a tremendous candidate. he upset the establishment last

time, and he might be there until the bitter end. >> the virginia senateace an interesting one as well. >> yes, both former governors, which really has made it a fascinating race. of course, they both are controversial figures. the head of the dnc, defended the stimulus program heartily. he has had a steady, a tiny lead over george allen throughout, but it would depend what happens with the presidential race. >> missouri and mccaskill is one we have been watching from the beginning. >> the establishment of the republican party walked away from our candidate there. >> why was that? >> she made a mistake trying to put abortion and rape in the same conversation, which was not a smart thing to do. at the end of the day, i think he may -- became a better candidate. it is a race he could have won, and i would not give up on it yet. >> i think bob casey did not

expect to have a run for his money, but it looks like he may well be. obviously, we are going to pick up nebraska. >> pennsylvania race in for the presidency that is still very much undecided. some of you will go way for local coverage. we will be right back after that.

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some things won't last 25 years. ah! woof! some things will. save up to 15% on an ikea kitchen. the election results are trickling in from maryland. let's take a look now. senate race, the incumbent up against three challengers. you can see ben credit cardin won that race. >> 8th district, we can tell you the incumbent chris van hollen has won over his republican challenger. >> there are several controversial ballot measures

in maryland. question 4 would grant instate tuition to illegal immigrants. now with 1% of the precinct reporting, it appears there's about a two to one lead for that measure. >> question 7, which will decide whether to expand gamble in maryland. 1% reporting, still very close. 51% of the voters are against expanding gambling. 49 #% are for it. we'll be watching this one all night. >> virginia, long lines have led to a delay in election results in the commonwealth. >> karen gray houston is live at the state board of elections with the latest. >> reporter: voting done now. we are at the fairfax county government center, which is the headquarters for the board of elections. people were voting there until just a short time ago. they always tell you if you're in line when the polls close, that they will let you vote. they did that here at 7:00, the polls closed and there were a bunch of people left trying to get a chance to cast their

ballots. the last of those left here i want to say about 10, 15 minutes ago. we talked to some of them and here's what they had to say. >> this is my first time voting in an election, and i had been here since 5:00. the lines were very long. but everybody was friendly and nice and i feel proud voting. >> it was one of those, i know it's a close election. i know each vote matters a lot and i have strong opinions on this one. >> we got here a little bit before 7:00, so right on time. i was almost the last person. >> reporter: that meant you stood in line almost an hour and a half? >> what time is it? yeah, hour and a half. >> reporter: 8:35. >> yeah. it was fun, though. everyone was nice and we had a good time and passed out water and snacks. >> reporter: camaraderie in the line? >> yeah, it was great. >> reporter: we are just getting in some of the latest numbers for who is winning in that presidential contest in virginia and what we're seeing

with 42% of the precincts reporting, 54% goes to president obama. 45% to mitt -- i'm sorry, i got that wrong. it's 45 obama, 54 mitt romney. that's a big difference. 42% of the precincts in at last count. now, we've been to two different polling places tonight. we were over in burke, virginia, at the lake braddock school and also here at the government center. what's interesting about northern virginia is this is a very, much more diverse population than the rest of virginia. these numbers now showing that mitt romney is ahead, even though he's the more conservative of the two candidates. one big issue, the people talked about earlier was that the person who won this vote

might not win by the popular vote. they might win by what happens in the electoral college. right now it doesn't look that way with 54%. we'll have to stand by and wait and see. virginia has 13 electoral votes. back to you guys. >> stay with us. we're continuing our coverage throughout the night. the "fox news" election alert. 9:00 on the east coast, 8:00 in the central time. a number of polling places in a just r of states have closed and here is the latest from the "fox news" decision team. beginning with the state of colorado, it's 9:00 eastern. the polls have just closed. it is too close to call in the state of colorado. wisconsin a very important state tonight. it's a bell weather and a toss-up state. wisconsin with 10 electoral votes and too close to call. here is one we can call in michigan the polls have just closed in michigan. this is an important state for

us tonight. it's a bell weather and one that we've been watching and sure enough as projected though it was thought to be close, barack obama, the "fox news" decision desk projec its 16 electoral votes will go to president obama. and then the last one we're projecting at this hour, minnesota, the presidential race in the state of minnesota still too close to call as the polls have closed just in the last few minutes. now states where the polls have closed in the last couple of hours virginia one of the first to close, two hours ago now, 38% of all precincts are reporting. mitt romney with a lead but it is too close to call. ohio where many of the analysts prior to the day said ohio might decide the nation, ohio, the president -- part of the president's midwestern firewall, ohio, the state that no republican has ever won or ever lost and then won the white house, ohio right now too close to call with 55 to 43 for

the president at this moment. north carolina and it's 15 electoral votes up for grab. a lot of precincts are reporting. 61% since north carolina closed their polls at 7:30 eastern time. it is way too close to call in the state of north carolina and florida. 72% of all precincts are reporting. more than 6.2 million votes are already counted and florida is as close as it can be. fewer than 21,000 votes separating this in that massive state and florida with 72% of all precincts reporting is too close to call. pennsylvania has 20 electoral votes and i don't know what is going on in pennsylvania but they're having a hard time getting their numbers in tonight. pennsylvania closed the polls an hour ago now or a little bit more. all r than -- 1% of precincts reporting. barack obama with a lead over governor romney but still too close to call in pennsylvania. as it is in the state of new

hampshire. 11% of all precincts now reporting. new hampshire closed the polls an hour ago but it is still too close to call in that battleground state. the last of the battleground states that have closed. missouri closed its polls at 7:00 eastern time. 1% of precincts reporting. the state of missouri is too the e to call and here is big board. electoral vote count. this is based on all of the states which "fox news" now projects. i didn't go through all of them at the 9:00 briefing just three minutes ago because the rest of these -- you see in that solid red swath were never up for question. it was well-known before tonight that this is how these states would go. the state of texas is a solid red as the state of new york is solid blue. so if you look at the electoral college map mitt romney 149, president obama 1927 and a long time to go before we sleep. colorado is won battleground

state that is crucial according to the analysts. mountain rocky reporter is at the county clerk's office in denver. what is happening there tonight? >> well, things are actually just starting to get busy here again because all of the counting that will happen in denver county will happen here at the denver elections division. you see some of these people still sitting here still waiting to vote. this is a voting service center and folks who had problems with the ballots, they will have an opportunity to cast their ballot here. those will be considered provisional ballots. this is where we're hanging out. the area by the ballot counting room. this is my most favorite part of this process because we're watching from a window here inside the area where they're counting and using these machines here that are counting the ballots at 400 ballots per minute and beyond that area

there is this quarantined area where they'll start tallying thement and we'll get results soon enough. it is too close to call. we're not surprised by that at all. the president has spent more time here. 13 visits over the past year s an any other president ha ever done because it's so critical. all the polling done in the past weeks and months has been within the statistical margin of error. it is going to be incredibly tight. we're expecting this to be a long night, shepard. >> a very important swing state. thanks. we're learning a lot more from the exit polls. a number of states just closed in the last few minutes. martha mccallum has been monitoring them all night long. stories to tell? >> let's take a look. we know that florida and pennsylvania remain very tight. let's see why pennsylvania -- florida we'll start with is so tight. check out some of these groups. independents who both sides have been trying to sway neck

and neck 50 to 48%. let's look at the cuban american population in florida. marco rubio has been very supportive of governor romney in florida. tends to be a more conservative group and it's playing out in the exit polls as well. hispanics of non-cuban descent are going for obama. obama care. nearly half of the voters in the sunshine state say that they are against it. they think that it should be repealed. some or all. those who are in favor, of course, are supporting president obama. those who want it repealed prefer governor romney. now republicans have not won a presidential election in the state of pennsylvania since 1988. but they worked to make it d mitt tive this year an romney, his camp has really put it out there in the past several weeks and they think that pennsylvania is indeed at play. in play. there is a look at the independents in pennsylvania.

46-49 swaying towards governor romney according to these exit polls. back if 2008 obama won the independents with 58%. romney seems to be ahead in that regard right now as the president slips about 12% with the independents in pennsylvania. better news for the president there in pennsylvania would be that those folks who say the economy looks a little better, 40% say it is getting better. 27% say it's the same. 32% think the economy is getting worse in the state of pennsylvania as they headed into or out of -- out of the exit polls this evening in that state so we're waiting. we expect more calls in the coming minutes, maybe half an hour, maybe an hour shepard. we'll see. >> when we get something from florida and pennsylvania we may know a little something. ay know a little something something. >> let's get back to our panel. mike santoli.

ann marsh and amy stoddard. like to go over the exit polls we just saw. the state of florida, president obama in independents by 2%. bring together what we've learned about florida so far. president obama won the early vote in florida by 4%. where four years ago he lost the early vote by 6%. now we know he is leading -- he is -- president obama is leading by independents in 2%. what do you see in florida? >> what we know now decent news for obama. you saw the healthcare overall poll results. it seems like the housing market is not in free fall anymore. florida is a place where that matters. >> interesting that he is leading with independents and more interesting he is competitive with cubans who been rically have republican voters. that says everything about why it's close.

>> the changing cuban dynamic as well. some of the older down in south florida and the very difficult we're a toward castro generation past the float to different d they have thoughts in south florida younger cuban americans. >> yes, they do. it's an interesting effort by both parties to try to target latino voters. you have to go to different groups and talk about different ith gs and doing well w cubans in florida does not necessarily translate for mitt romney anywhere else in the country with most latino groups. >> long bad news for the republican party. if you have a cuban problem, too, that's a big problem. >> no doubt about it. i don't know that florida is necessarily the one that will be telling the story at the end of the night like we thought it was a few months ago. it definitely seems to me as if good news incrementally but i don't know if that's what we'll

the end of the night. >> on the right-hand sign of the screen you're seeing the races we've called. the bug at the bottom right of the screen, you see it on the bottom right says 270 needed electoral votes. that's the one as we make decisions throughout the night. i go back to my chicken scratch over the last couple of days about things i thought were important. did they underestimate the -- was the polling wrong? rd this re building towa and we saw every state was coming together, was their model wrong? were they wrong about how many latinos and african-americans and young people would come out and vote? so far they weren't wrong at all. >> not if you're looking at polls about registered voters. exactly. the obama folks always felt the more this election looked like registered voters the better they would do. that seems to be holding by far. likely voters, favored romney not so much. >> we talked about an talked about p and a turn-out surge.

in important states iowa, pennsylvania, michigan, ohio, wisconsin. the thinking by the romney camp they were going to get a bigger surge than anybody else had accounted for. >> the intensity had been on the romney side and the obama team know that. they will make up for the deficit in the ground operations. finding the new voters that weren't going to show up in polls and they got them. expected a less white electorate, the romney team expected more white electorate, more of a 2010 electorate than a 2008. and obama's camp really said we will make up ground with the ground game and it looks like seeing. what you're increased turn-out as robert gibbs was saying bodes well for obama. ike mitt o don't l romney hate obama. if the numbers are big in the lines that means they turned out for both parties. >> the thinking among the roromn cwaflida was

theirs and they moved on with their modeling. virginia was the next state that i thought most important in the early closing. one of the questions about that was if barack obama is able to win virginia and we haven't yet called it, his path -- romney's path to the white house is more difficult. we've noticed a tilt to the left in the north with the changing demographic in virginia and right now it appears the models for virginia have held. >> exactly right. you've seen a lot of hispanic voters, latinos, asian americans, vietnamese, for instance. those are all obama votes. >> florida, virginia, pennsylvania, ohio, north carolina, and many other very important states are still in the mix. not to mention new hampshire and wisconsin. these are the ones that we said at the beginning of the night would decide it all. none of these has yet been decided. not by us or any other news organization in america. it's coming. stay with us. ♪

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toss-up states has just been called. "fox news" now projects the state of pennsylvania goes to barack obama. this state closed at 8:00 tonight. mportant ry i battleground state. 20 electoral votes and right now president obama won it back in 2008. 54 to 44 over john mccain and he has won it again tonight. this makes the path to the white house more difficult for mitt romney but not a whole lot. you remember in the final days of the campaign it was the romney camp who said we see possibilities in the state of pennsylvania. appened was the negative ads that the president had run across the nation against the romney camp, they didn't bother in the state of pennsylvania and thought it in the bag.eirs and in the last few days the polls tightened. the obama camp admitted it in the last day. there was a flurry of activity there. whether it was a head fake or not is another matter. president clinton spent the

last day with four different stops in pennsylvania. two of them in the philadelphia area. they spent a lot of resources and a lot of money there. in the end pennsylvania was too much to overcome for the republicans and it goes to the democrats. pennsylvania for barack obama. we're still waiting on the rest of them. joining us now "fox news" sunday host chris wallace. karl rove deputy chief of staff to george w. bush and "fox news" contributor and joe trippi, a former campaign manager to howard dean. >> let's talk about pennsylvania. i can remember this four years ago. john mccain made a push there. is this a bridge too far for republicans? >> it broke my heart twice in 2000 and 2004. american crossroads was one. >> it was 1988, right? >> it was close in 2000 and 2004. we'll see what the final numbers are. i suspect he will do better in the southeastern part of the state.

we'll see what the final margin is. >> the significance this was y if he or mitt romne didn't win ohio, he could win pennsylvania. actually pick up two or more electoral votes. didn't turn out. it makes ohio a must-win. and wisconsin. he has to now win one of those two states to have a path here. but i think this was -- if he had been able to open up pennsylvania, god bless him for trying. but i just didn't think it was going to happen. >> that's plan c. wisconsin and iowa, colorado, new hampshire and nevada were plan b. >> one of them is gone. let's talk about florida. because you guys have been numbers crunching like crazy. it's interesting to comparing them to what they were four years ago. what is your sense, karl?

identified that miami-dade and broward counties and palm beach the democratic strongholds in the south. obama is doing better in those. he is doing a little less than big urban centers of the i4 corridor. tampa saint peter and orlando and less well in the urban counties in the i4 corridors and worse in the southwest corner of the state and up in the north. the real one is the panhandle where he is running further behind where he did four years ago. walton county got 26% of the vote. now 23.7% of the vote. romney is getting 3 1/2 points better than -- but this race right now is settled. million people having voted is 2000 votes apart. i think at the end of the day it's about-- in--t me brin >> this has been going back and

forth. the interesting thing is in the counties where obama is doing a s doing orse or romney i better it's about a two-point margin that romney seems to be growing. obama won the state by 2.8 points four years ago. quite sure. i think romney is definitely closing in and karl may be right about the panhandle putting him over. it will be very late in the ne ht before we find this o out. >> let me make it clear, folks, ews" is not a "fox n projection this is asking our space cowboys what they think. joe? >> i'm not prepared to make that call yet. just not prepared to do it. i think romney has an edge but i'm not going to do that. >> i'm a little more emphatic than that but i'm in the same place. i think it's tilting there. one of the interesting things is there is only one county in the state that's not in. any vote. santa rosa county in the panhandle, a 35,000 vote margin

for mccain last time around probably 40,000 boats. panhandle may rescue the republican candidate. >> we have a "fox news" alert and call to make. a big call to make. that is, as you can see, the republicans will retain control of the house of representatives. they had a big edge there was going to take a 25 vote pickup for the democrats to take the house. "fox news" is projecting they aren't going the make the 25 seat pickup and the republicans, john boehner, eric cantor will retain control of the house. just suppose barack obama wins the presidency, we could be spending billions of dollars and have exactly the same balance of power in washington your thoughts about that big news, the house? not a surprise. everybody expected republicans to control the house. >> what may be a surprise is the small number of seats the republicans lose or the possibility of gaining one or two sets net. republicans have done quite

well tonight. we saw this early on in the evening when they were -- one incumbent republican in indiana having a tough battle. and an open seat given up by joe donnelly. and then we're seeing a barn burner of a race in kentucky. not yet settled but one of the two remaining democrats in the house up for grabs. >> how do you explain the fact in the presidential level this is a 50/50 country but when it comes to the house and your local representative that it seems to be by a fairly decisive margin a republican? >> it tends to -- the house r to to stay a lot close what it was after reapportionment year. the party in power gets to write those -- draw those lines and the republicans did a great job. it's redistricting. it's a census year they were able to redraedtoratorict and tends to be an incumbent

protection policy. >> you know, if this were at the end of the ten year period the districts get more competitive. the other thing i think is what's interesting first of all i think the democrats will pick up some seats tonight but in the senate it's way too early to call those seats. but it's definitely a lot of democrats think we'll hold the senate. you're right. we could get all the way through the billions of dollars spent and find out we're literally in the same place. ol the ocrats contr senate. republicans control the house. we'll see, and barack obama ends up in the white house. >> he says if he wins he and john boehner will be able to deal. >> the president was trying to paint a better picture. if he were to win reelection he would have a lot of work to do to repair his relationship or working ability with the house. he pulled the rug out from

underneath too too many times. while we've been sitting speaking florida has gone back again. it is now a 5,000 lead for mitt romney. this thing is -- that race is tighter than a tick. >> i'm worried about hanging chads. >> we don't have to worry about that. the balance of the house retained by the republicans. another big state. another battleground closes in just a few minutes.

welcome back and time to look at the races individual. you can see that with 61 percent eric being declared the winner. >> ask then to district 8. you can see right now that handling is in the lead and 33 percent reporting there. >> right now you can see with 13 percent of them reporting.

>> and to district 11 where jerry is up against five challengers there. a little bit closer than he would like. he is in the lead with 51 percent. >> now, to the sen night race in virginia. right now with only 55 percent of the precents reported george is up and tim 49 percent. this one is very very very close. lets check with the bob now with very latest on the bob campaign. they watching this go back and forth. are they up or down? >> well, they have been up. as more votes are counted the gap is closing. at one point it was about 43 percent of the vote counted and the gap a bit wider than that. almost a seven or eight gap.

the feeling here is as virginia goes for mitt, it will also go for george allen. more numbers are coming in and the race is getting closer at this time. they are expecting a long late night here. also from eric who won the race and who is likely to be the house majority leader again. this room is filled with the republican of individual. we're told that we will hear from george allen tonight whether he has reclaimed the seat that he lost or losses tonight. it's gets close, but the night is still young. >> now, with the cane campaign. >> yes, too close to call. no one is celebrating here. everyone is watching. earlier in the evening the members were very confident. we don't know where the votes

are coming in. they are not cheering because george is in the lead by 51 to 49 percent. we do something about the voters in virginia because of the polls today. here are some snap shops. men are votes for mitt and woman are obama. more woman than men are voting 53 to 47 percent. white voters going for mitt and black voters going 94 to 6 percent for obama. younger votes going for obama and older for romney. right now romney is in the lead and george allen is in the lead but it's too close to call. virginia could go either way in the president race or sen night race. >> thanks for the up date. stay with us for the continuing coverage tonight. we will bring it to you on line

and on air as we get them. we're streaming live through the mobile app and make sure that you monitor the twitter feed for instant results. of course you can find the very latest on line. we will be back in 20 minutes and hope to you see then. ean? we've reached another big point and away we go. >> this is a "fox news" election alert. 9:30 on the east coast. 6:30 on the west coast and a number of battleground states close to play and too call. let's get them up right now beginning with the battleground state of virginia. a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of emphasis in this state. lf of all precincts are now reporting. close to 1.8 -- 1.7 million votes have been counted and it is still too close to call in virginia. ohio, the primary state that the president was saying is part of his midwest firewall that republicans know they must

win historically to be able to get to the white house. the state of ohio is too close to call. north carolina widely believed it might have been called by now but 73% all precincts are now reporting and it is too close to call with fewer than 90,000 votes out of 3.3 million cast. the state of north carolina too close to call. florida, would you look at this. fewer than 1,000 votes separate the two candidates in the state of florida. 81% of all precincts are in. but some of the important precincts for republicans in the northwestern part of the state, santa rosa county, okalusa county. a lot of military presence and n the outhern voting tha rest of the state of florida still those are not in yet. that's too close to call. the state of new hampshire a lot of time spent there as well. only four electoral votes. 16% of precincts reporting. new hampshire is too close to

call. colorado where they have a number of fascinating ballot initiatives on the vote, one of them has to do with legalizing marijuana for recreational use in the state of colorado. that may have brought out a lot of democrats. that we're told may have swayed the vote to some degree. it is too close to call but president obama with a close to 25,000 or so vote lead there but still a long way to go. the state of minnesota, still fewer than 1% of all precincts reporting. they haven't been closed that long just for the past 30 minutes. it is way too close to call in minnesota. missouri always a battleground state only 5% of all precincts reporting in missouri. their polls have been closed since 8:00. we'll wait a while longer before calling that. the electoral vote at this moment, would you look at that? as close as humanly possible. 153 for president obama and 153 for mitt romney. now a look at the national

popular vote for the presidency. barack obama with 17.7 million votes. mitt romney with 18.4 million votes. again, that is very, very close. the state of indiana now an important race to call. the state of indiana the senate race there has been one that we've watched very closely and the we can report that in state of indiana the democrat has won in indiana. this is a "fox news" election alert. an important senate call. a gain for the democrats. joe donnelly has been in a very tight race with richard mourdoch. why does this matter so much? a turnover in the balance of power. this is a loss of a republican senator and a gain of a democratic senator as we work for who wins control of the senate coming up. to our panel. mary ann marsh and amy stoddard. ed rollins and mike santolli

are all with us. this senate race is an important one and a lot of drama involved. explain it if you would, the drama. >> it seems all the drama had to do with abortion and rape hen they were tough senate races. this is one of them. indiana a tough state. romney wins the state but joe donnelly, the democrat, wins the senate race. there are a couple of these races tonight claire mccaskill is playing ynamic out. democrats winning seats that most people thought they would not. >> we'll be back with the panel in a second. carl cameron and cover nor romney's headquarters in washington the early signs for the obama campaign -- romney campaign no battleground states but it is far from over. >> they look to the ones still out there and too close to call and have great reason for optimism and confidence. however, the loss in pennsylvania, mr. obama's

ability to keep that state in the blue column for a second term if he is reelected for his presidency is a bit of a setback and limits some of their options. the romney campaign says in florida they expect to win. in north carolina they'll close and expect to take that state back. one that mr. obama won in 2008. the republicans have felt very strongly about ever since. virginia still out there. particularly watching le sterfield county a litt west of d.c. a state where republicans historically have to overperform and get lots of votes in that one county. right now mr. romney is here john ess than w mccain was in 2008. not a good sign in old dominion. in ohio the romney campaign is looking for a big turn-out in southern ohio from coal country in the east on the pennsylvania, west virginia side to hamilton county cincinnati on the western side. with a big turn-out they may be able to overcome what is a substantial democratic turn-out in the northern part of the

state around toledo where the detroit bail-out politics played very heavy. they keep watching and waiting recognizing that florida, ohio and virginia as they go, perhaps so goes the country, shep. >> carl cameron, thanks very much. let's get to chicago now and ed a nry following the obam campaign. of the battleground states, three of them are called. pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin. all for president obama. >> big hoops and hollers here in chicago. they've got the volunteers streaming in behind me starting to come in for what they hope to be a celebration later. the president not here. he is still at his private residence. he had a family dinner. wife, children, mother-in-law, etc. trying to fill up this time. everyone is waiting and wondering what is going to happen. they are feeling good here. i saw valerie jarrett a few minutes ago one of the president's advisors say

they're feeling good. spoke to another advisor who told me privately their models are showing that they're outperforming in virginia, north carolina, florida and ohio in terms of their-out. they are still hopeful they can win those battlegrounds. meanwhile as you were talking, pennsylvania, michigan, the hail mary if mitt romney could have won and make up losses in other battlegrounds aren't materializing right now. the obama camp feels very good right now. >> ed henry live for us. you talked about the turn-out model. winning the turn-out model in the state of florida. remember last time the democrats trailed florida in early voting by 6%. this time the democrats are winning in florida in early voting. so voting prior to today by 4%. climb. a tall hill to if they brought out more voters this time than last time florida is very much in play. it was widely believed to be a romney state.

the romney camp had this on their board on their path to the white house. florida at this hour is still in play. let's look at the electoral count map before we take you to a quick commercial break. president obama and mitt romney are deadlocked at 153. a lot more states to close at the top of the hour. this is fox broadcast network's continuing coverage as you decide 2012. [ male announcer ] whether it's kevin's smartphone...

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>> 20 minutes before 10:00 on the east coast, 20 minutes before 7:00 on the west coast. i'm shepard smith in new york. this is the continuing coverage as you decide 2012. there were 11 battleground states that will decide this. three of them are called and here they are. pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes go to barack obama. wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes go to barack obama. michigan and its 16 electoral votes to barack obama. now here are the battleground states which have closed but for which we do not yet have s.ca yovirginia fly by there. virginia too close to call. ohio and its 18 too close to call. north carolina and its 15 too

close to call. the state of new hampshire and its 4 too close to call. colorado and its 9 electoral votes too close to call. minnesota and its 10 electoral votes too close to call. missouri and its 10 too close to call and florida with a whopping 29 electoral votes still close to call. back with our panel. mike santolli is with us on set tonight. ed rollins is also here. he was the national campaign director for the reagan-bush campaign in 1984. a "fox news" contributor. mary ann marsh is with us. a democratic advisor to john kerry and amy stoddard. state of florida 29 electoral votes. we've talked about the specifics of this state and why it's important and why tonight we're seeing surprises. d rollins, your thoughts on florida. >> we never thought how we could put it together without florida.

>> get 270 electoral votes for mitt romney. >> you just can't. you don't want a replay of 2000. by less in that state than 1% you basically can do a recount automatically. you could have that long, drawn-out process again. not the same as we did in 2000 but if we don't win florida, virginia, ohio, north carolina we're not going to get there. we can still get there. >> amy, it seems what has happened in florida is that they have found voters that were untouchable before. our correspondent in florida was reporting that their turn-out model is higher than they had projected. they have -- the democrats have gotten more people to the polls than they thought they would. >> they had to work very hard ut you know, marco rubio won there in 2010. >> the republican senator. >> they were ready to embrace

mitt romney. there was concern about medicare. democrats hoped it would hit hard with seniors but it turned out not to be. as we said all night in terms of the macro ground operation voters, ind new register them and get them in the car. that was their goal. they absolutely were in humility aware they could never match the enthusiasm from four years ago and knew how unpopular the president was and knew they had to find new votes. it's a numbers game. if you find the numbers, you win. >> what the republicans thought was their enthusiasm would own the day. >> you want to control your destiny and the fact that obama campaign had so many early votes to go in, they turned out voters today, too. when you look at that and i think the other thing is i4 may not be the place where you win elections in florida anymore. >> it may not be the answer. some of you go away for local coverage. we'll be back for more calls in just a moment.

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>> the calling of a lot more states as polls will be closing from coast to coast. but first the battleground states that are still too close to call and that begins tonight with virginia. the polls closed two hours and 45 minutes ago. still about 60% of precincts reporting and it is too close to call in virginia. in the state of ohio with 18 electoral votes 42 percenters of all precincts reporting. we have a long way to go. it's too close to call in ohio. in north carolina tonight mitt romney does have a lead with close to 80% of all precincts reporting. this was widely believed to be a republican state. right now it's too close to call. it's a battleground and then there is florida. it has been oh close separated by a few thousand votes. right now by 19,000 votes. barack obama with the slimest of leads with 84% of all precincts reporting across the sunshine state.

it is too close to call in florida as it is in new hampshire. 18% of precincts there and new hampshire is too close to call. colorado with 49% of all precincts in. barack obama is leading by just about 45,000 votes and there it is too close to call. the state of minnesota with 10 electoral votes only 4% of precincts reporting. they haven't been closed for an hour. still too close to call. in the state of missouri which closed 1:49 12% of all precincts reporting and too close to call. here is the electoral votes. no change in the last 15 minutes or so. the president with 153. his challenger with 153. 270 the goal. 270 to get you the residents on pennsylvania avenue. the popular vote was widely expected to be close throughout the night. there was thinking one candidate could win the popular and the other win the electoral vote count.

that's what the popular vote looks like tonight county by county across the united states and we have the numbers for you as well and they are north of 17 million. i believe we have that board aybe not.t m at any rate the popular vote doesn't matter in the end game. electoral rs is the college. let's get back to the panel. there is the popular vote. 21 million for mitt romney, 21.5 and 20.8 million for barack obama. you can see the numbers are changing as we watch them. it is close as it can be with a difference of fewer than one votes.n popular our panel mike santolli and ed rollins and republican strategist and "fox news" contributor. mary ann marsh a democratic consultant and amy stoddard associated editor and columnist for "the hill" newspaper in washington florida, florida, florida. we worked out what we would talk about if this state goes

goes way and this state that way. how do you get to 270 votes in the white house. part of the planning did not include the state of florida. it was widely believed, i think, frankly, by both campaigns that florida would go to governor romney. 29 electoral votes. now it's very much in play and as close as any state in the nation. amy stoddard, if you do not win florida what is your path to the white house if you are romney. >> i don't think there is a path unless he picks up minnesota and something unheard of. we're looking at a path that will require, virginia, ohio, florida and probably colorado. >> there is no florida. >> if he loses florida i don't know how he will make up the numbers. he would have to win -- it doesn't look ke he in in iowa or nevada. they look like obama states. that's a very steep path. he needs virginia, ohio,

colorado and probably minnesota. everything left. i don't think iowa and nevada will be romney. >> it's drawing into an inside strait. the first card was the florida card. the assumption since 2000 was you have to win florida. california, new york are no longer in play. for republicans you have to win texas and florida to move forward. >> a call to make here. the state of massachusetts the senate race much talked about for months on end in massachusetts, the first woman his to win an office of t kind in the state of massachusetts and "fox news" projects it is a done deal. this is a gain for the democrats and a loss for the republicans. elizabeth warren has beaten scott brown knocks news state of for the massachusetts. a democratic strategist, how did this happen. >> there was no outside money and an $80 million race. she became a good candidate

over time. she helped tremendously was helped by the convention in charlotte as many democrats were and the debates. scott brown hurt himself badly in the debates. he came off as someone they didn't recognize. angry and defensive. huge win for massachusetts. 

welcome back everyone. all eyes on virginia as the tight race unfolds. lets take a look at the numbers right now. you can see the latest results now regarding the presidential race. it appears that mitt romney is leading obama 51 percent to 47 percent. >> the virginia race is a look at the latest numbers there. you can see george allen and it's been like this all night long and there's a slim lead with 72 percent reporting. still 51 to 49 percent of the votes. >> okay. political reporter and analyst mark with the very latest. this is still a very very close

race. >> yes, it is. one of the things that we have been trying to do is put together this puzzle that's the common wealth of virginia tonight. i don't think that it's anything that this very well decide this presidency of the united states depending on how florida and ohio go. mark we will bring you in here as we look at this. this is the vote in arlington county. the latest numbers is 66 percent for the president and 33 percent for mitt romney and 75 percent. go to the next board and this is fair fax county and bam 57 and mitt 41 percent and then lauding county now. the president in the lead there and we're looking at 68 percent of the votes now and prince

william county we're looking at 39 percent of the votes. what's going on and how this could affect virginia as a whole. >> the president got and is underperforming. that's the phrase of the day four years ago if i can look at the stats he got 54 percent and he is now running about 51 and that's fair fax is under performing and he got 60 percent and now he is getting 57 percent and arlington 65 percent and that's what he got four years ago. >> you had new jersey's -- individual's dean there frank wolf. obama now is leaking out in a larger lead. what does that tell you about

where voters minds are now. on one side they are going to vote republican and then vote for republican. >> people pry themselves on being independent minded. that makes a difference too. people try themselves on being ticket slippers. you're going see that in the allen race as well. >> we will see how the ticket slippers affect all of us in the state of virginia. >> we're watching it closely. it could be a long night. >> we're streaming live through the mobile app. you can download it now and be sure to monitor the twitter feed for instant results. fox 5 news at 10:00 is just seconds away tonight. s away to